Author: avery

Frank Lloyd Wright Sleepover

How cool is this?  You can rent The Palmer House – the home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for William and Mary Palmer in 1950.  The house is in Ann Arbour, Michigan (only a 5 hour drive from Toronto).  It’s renting for the rather reasonable rate of $400 a night for the 3-bedroom house and neighbouring tea house (3rd picture above – isn’t it lovely?).  Split that with another couple, and that’s a deal.

More info on Palmer House can be found here, and the rental listing on HomeAway can be found here.

Sufjan Stevens EP for Only 5 Bucks

Just the other day I was saying to Ian, “what happened to Sufjan Stevens?”  Remember when he announced he was going to do an album for each of the 50 US States?  Yeah, that didn’t work out so well… after Michigan and Illinois, he gave up, calling the project “such a joke.”

But now he’s back, with All Delighted People, a new eight-song, 60-minute EP that he’s released online.  And the best part is – you can download it for 5 bucks. Talk about value.  The EP is described as follows:

The EP, All Delighted People, is built around two different versions of Sufjan’s long-form epic ballad “All Delighted People,” a dramatic homage to the Apocalypse, existential ennui, and Paul Simon’s “Sounds of Silence.”

Sounds just like the kind of pseudo-intelligent literary hipster drivel that I love.  I’m downloading it right now.  You can too – click here.

Funny on Friday: Christopher Walken

Back in March, when we were in NYC, we saw Christopher Walken on Broadway in A Behanding In Spokane.  Ian couldn’t stop laughing at the way he talks (seriously, is that an accent?) throughout the whole play.

Here’s Christopher Walken and that amazing voice, reading the lyrics Lady Gaga’s Poker Face.  Enjoy.

[via kottke.org]

Fresh Seafood on the Isle of Skye

Hold me back, or I’ll buy a plane ticket… the New York Times recently published an article in their travel section about fresh seafood and other fine dining on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland.  The idea of Scottish fine cuisine used to be an oxy-moron, but now there’s a Michelin star resto on Skye.  I wish I was there, slurping back fresh oysters, looking out at the dramatic hills and coastline…

Anywhere But Here: Blue Ridge Mountains

When I can’t concentrate on work or I need a little distraction, I like to daydream about where I’d rather be at that moment.  Today, it’s Highlands, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  One of my favourite Aunts has a mountain home in Highlands, and I wish I was there visiting.  I would spend my time hiking, playing in waterfalls, watching the mist hang in the hills, and enjoying amazing BBQ.   Ever see the movie Cold Mountain?  Cold Mountain is really close to Highlands.  Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a farm here, like Ada did in the movie?  Minus the whole Civil War part, of course.

Ultimate Travel Apps

There’s a great article over on Budget Travel’s website, covering 24 great travel apps for your smartphone.  I’ve been using TripIt and Yelp for a while now – they’re both great. I was happy to learn about a few more apps though, including GateGuru, which is like an insider’s guide to airports.  I think that will come in handy when we’re roaming LAX in September.  The Undercover Tourist sounds like a must for anyone visiting Disney World.  And the toilet finder SitOrSquat is a genius idea.

[Illustration by Nicole Wilkinson taken from the Budget Travel article]

30 New Free High-Quality Fonts

Apparently, today is type day.  Here’s a roundup of 30 new free HIGH QUALITY free fonts, over on Smashing Magazine.  Normally I don’t like free fonts because they’re a pain to work with, especially kerning.  But Smashing usually only includes good stuff in their free typeface roundups, so these should be good.

The first one in the list, Piron, is really cool.  I also like Geomancy.  And all the symbol typefaces are seriously handy.

Typeface to Drool Over – Strangelove Next

The hand-lettering trend in typography is still going strong, and this typeface caught my eye.  Called Strangelove Next, it’s inspired by Stanley Kubricks film “Dr Strangelove”, which featured hand-lettered type in the opening titles.

Strangelove Next features a narrow, wide, and mixed version.  And it’s on sale – get all three fonts for $19.  That’s a deal.